Bernie Granados Jr.

Artist’s Biography

Bernie Granados Jr. is a multi-talented artist who works in a wide variety of mediums, including embossed acrylic paintings, watercolor, Prismacolor pencil, pen and ink drawings, wood carvings, ceramic, and bronze. Drawing from his Apache and Zacatec roots, Mr. Granados produces paintings, sculptures, masks, prints, and miniatures featuring beautiful images of horses, buffalo, and ancient ancestral figures inspired by personal visions and cave art throughout America. He finds inspiration in Nature’s force and beauty, his smarter-than-human quarter horses, his fellow artists, and his love and respect for the Creator.
As a youth he derived inspiration from the old and contemporary masters, spending much time in art galleries and museums and enjoying time in the presence of these celebrated pieces of art history.
Mr. Granados is a gifted teacher who headed the Fine Arts Department of the Intertribal Pre-University Summer Program at University of California Irvine and taught at the Los Angeles High School of the Arts. He is listed in the Biographical Directory of Native American Painters. Bernie was one of the featured artists in the LACMA Exhibition “Native Artists for the 21st. Century.” He created the “MADCOWpony” for Horsepower New Mexico’s original “Trail of Painted Ponies.” It was purchased by Buck Owens. Bernie co-curated, with Kathy Whitaker and Michael Horse, “Spirit Horses”, an installation and exhibition at the Southwest Museum that was up for over 2 years.

He has worked in the film industry,IATSE local 767, for over 31 years. Granados’ works are collected by such notables as Ben Kingsley, Dustin Hoffman, and Ted Turner. His artworks have been used in such shows as “Seven Brides”, “The Native Americans”, “Highway to Heaven”, “Gabriel’s Fire”, “Who’s Harry Crumb?”, “Evolution”, “CSI”, Lords of Salem, Grimm and many others.
Today Mr. Granados’ ongoing passion is helping native youth cultivate their artistic talent and knowledge. He was an Artist in Residence at the Southwest Museum and has assisted the Museum in developing his “Native Mentor Program”, this in turn inspired www.nativementors.com which provides educational opportunities for Native youth to learn more about the arts from the Native professionals in the community. This curriculum is now available for tribes to develop native youth’s artistic techniques at the professional level. Bernie is has been assisting with the arts program at the American Indian Families Partnership, www.indianfamilies.org
You can see the artist’s work at

www.elstudiogranados.com

  Bernie was honored by the Native American Rights Fund by having his artwork featured in the 2015 Annual Report. You can download a copy at their website.

 www.narf.org

The MADCOW Ponies are featured on this year's Pow Wow Tee.

"Equestral Stardancers" embossed acrylic on Canson Paper.